Why Control Keeps You Small | Tommy Mello - $1 Billion Company Founder (A1 Garage Doors)

➡️ Join 321,000 people who read my free weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.scottdclary.com ➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory Tommy Mello is a billionaire entrepreneur and founder of A1 Garage Door Service, which he started in 2007 with $50,000 in debt and transformed into North America's largest independently-owned garage door company, now operating in 19 states with over 700 employees and generating over $200 million in revenue. He is also a bestselling author of books including "Elevate" and "Home Service Millionaire," host of "The Home Service Expert" podcast (ranked in the top 0.1% of podcasts), and an Inc. Magazine columnist who shares strategies for scaling home service businesses. Mello had his first major exit in 2022 with nearly $30 million in EBITDA, distributed $100 million to employees from the transaction, and continues to focus on creating millionaires among his workforce while building toward his goal of reaching multiple billions in company valuation. ➡️ Show Links   / officialtommymello   https://x.com/RealTommyMello/   / tommymello   ➡️ Podcast Sponsors Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/ ShipStation - https://www.shipstation.com/ (Code: SuccessStory) Square - https://square.com/go/success SurveyMonkey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/scott Monarch Money - https://www.monarchmoney.com (Code: Success) Claude - https://claude.ai/success Huel - https://huel.com/scott (Code: scott) Revenued - https://www.revenued.com/ NetSuite - https://netsuite.com/scottclary/ Indeed - https://indeed.com/clary ➡️ Talking Points 00:00 – Intro 01:25 – Tommy Mello’s Origin Story 09:49 – Scaling From $20M to $500M 12:49 – You Can’t Out-Delegate Me 14:30 – A $100M Exit Gift 20:13 – Sponsor Break 22:57 – You’re Focused on the Wrong Things 25:27 – What Drives Him Now 29:54 – Fear After Winning Big 38:16 – Sponsor Break 40:46 – Taxes Every Founder Misses 45:40 – Why SaaS Is Chasing AI 48:48 – Hire Smarter Than Yourself 52:17 – Life vs Business 58:28 – When Business Becomes Identity 1:02:38 – The Lesson He’d Teach His Kids ➡️ Success Story Podcast - Stories Worth Telling Subscribe & Watch The Full Podcast⁣ - https://www.successstorypodcast.com/ Welcome to the Success Story Podcast, hosted by entrepreneur, business executive, author, educator & speaker, Scott Clary. On this podcast, Scott has candid interviews with entrepreneurs, celebrities, notable figures, and politicians. All who have achieved success through both wins and losses, to learn more about their life, their ideas, and insights. He sits down with leaders and mentors and unpacks their stories to help pass those lessons on to others through both experiences and tactical strategies for business professionals, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between. Website: https://www.scottdclary.com Podcast: https://www.successstorypodcast.com YouTube:    / scottdclary   Instagram:   / scottdclary:   Twitter:   / scottdclary   Facebook:   / scottdclarypage   LinkedIn:   / scottdclary